Friday, December 9

Citizen at One: 3 Things I've learnt this year. Pt. 3

When the clock hits 5.30, or 5 on a Friday you have to immediately get drunk. It's the only way to clear your mind ready for the challenge of the next day.

OK, that's a joke, but you have to find ways of doing it. Working from home really means you're always in the office, so you need to compartmentalise your working and home life and make sure bits of each don't slip into either side.

If you spend all of your days working, then your evenings thinking about working you will eventually turn into a boring zombie, I've seen it happen, in the end I had to kill him with a snooker cue, it wasn't nice.

Sure, one of the big benefits of this big step you've taken is the freedom, nobody can tell you what to do now, but the reality is different. It's an old saying, but instead of having 1 boss now, you have 20, they're all your clients and they expect a certain level of service from you. Yes, this means you can never totally switch off, but you are still entitled to a family life.

I'm lucky my wife loves to hear me moan about my work, she put up with it for years at my old job. Many an evening we'd sit around the fire and she'd press me for stories about how someone at work had asked for 47 data sheets designing, only to realise at the end of the day they only needed 3. I think deep down she misses those long, angst ridden stories, and perhaps wants me to be unhappy so I can entertain her with them again.

I've learnt that doing something like playing football (which I'm shit at), playing in a band (which I'm shit at), or even playing Call of Duty (which I'm shit at), even though you might be shit at those things (and I am), can really help you concentrate on something else and dispel the stresses of the day.

So Don't be frightened to switch off is the message, or I will come around your house and stick a snooker cue through your unbleeding heart.